The desire to have the hair retain a particular style or shape is widely held. Many vehicles for accomplishing this have been found including mousses, gels, lotions and spray compositions, typically dispensed from a mechanical pump spray device or pressurized aerosol canister. Such compositions provide temporary setting benefits and can usually be removed by water or by shampooing. The materials used in these types of hair styling compositions are generally resins, gums, and adhesive polymers which are capable of imparting style or shape to the hair. Many of these products also contain lower alcohols in order to obtain good films of the polymer in a short period of time.
Many people desire a high level of style retention, or hold, from a hair styling product. In addition, in some areas of the world consumers desire a hair styling composition that also provides improved hair aesthetics and a restyle benefit. For example, many people in China tend to have very damaged hair because of low conditioner usage, cut their hair less frequently than Western consumers and have more environmental negatives (hard water, pollution, etc.). This damage causes hair to appear dull. Therefore, most of these consumers equate improved aesthetics, e.g. blacker, shinier hair, with healthier and more beautiful hair. Furthermore, the ability to restyle hair without additional product application is desired in many areas of the world because of the low shampoo frequency and the high cost (vs. income) of hair styling compositions.
Unfortunately, most hair styling products having good hold characteristics suffer from the disadvantage of not providing good hair aesthetics. Silicones tend to minimize stiffness and stickiness and provide a desirably smooth or soft hair feel. Unfortunately, silicone emulsions tend to be difficult to formulate in hair styling compositions. Hair styling compositions tend to be complex, requiring a number of ingredients for different purposes, with potential for incompatibilities. For example, silicone emulsions tend to be unstable in compositions containing lower alcohols, resulting in phase separation of the composition. Other incompatibilities in the system, e.g., polymer-polymer or polymer-surfactant interactions, can also result in phase separation. This phase separation is not only undesirable for visual aesthetic reasons, but for performance reasons as well. When the product phase separates, hold and/or hair feel properties of the product tend to be negatively impacted. Furthermore, those products providing improved aesthetics suffer from the disadvantage of tradeoffs in product performance (i.e. hold) and product form (i.e. foaming).
Therefore, a need exists for hair styling compositions providing style retention with improved hair aesthetics without tradeoffs in product performance or product form. Furthermore, a need exists for a product that incorporates all of these attributes and provides a restyle benefit.
It has surprisingly been found that stable hair styling compositions providing these benefits and containing up to about 55% monohydric alcohol can be provided by employing a combination of (i) a non-silicone containing hair styling polymer, (ii) an optional plasticizer, (iii) a silicone microemulsion substantially free of a combination of amino groups and hydroxyl groups and having a specific particle size, namely less than about 80 nm, (iv) a liquid hydrophilic non-polymeric cationic compound containing at least one quaternary ammonium moiety, and (v) certain solvent systems for the hair styling polymer.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide stable hair styling compositions containing a liquid hydrophilic non-polymeric cationic compound containing at least one quaternary ammonium moiety, and silicone microemulsions, especially compositions which also contain lower alcohols.
It is another object of this invention to provide hair styling compositions that provide good style retention. It is another object of this invention to provide hair styling compositions that provide improved hair aesthetics without tradeoffs in product performance or product form. Another object of this invention is to provide hair styling compositions that both look and feel natural.
It is another object of this invention to provide methods for styling and holding hair. Another object of this invention is to provide hair styling compositions that provide a restyle benefit without tradeoffs in product performance or product form.
These and other objects will become readily apparent from the detailed description which follows.